Hot Chocolate
by Irhaboggle
Summary: Carmilla wants hot chocolate. And she wants Elle to go with her. It's a good thing Elle just can't resist Carmilla's charms. Fast forward 150 some years. Laura wants hot chocolate. And she wants Carmilla to go with her. It's a good thing Carmilla just can't resist Laura's charms. (Laura-Elle comparative fic done through Carmilla and hot chocolate-based fluff).


"Come on, Elle! It'll be fine!" Carmilla encouraged her lover with an almost sinister smile. She took the other girl, Elle, by the hands, and dragged her down the hall of her own schloss. Elle, although allowing Carmilla to do this to her, looked quite nervous and reluctant.

"Are you sure? We could get caught! And I know Papa and the servants won't approve at all!" she fretted, whispering as soft as she could.

"Of course I'm sure!" Carmilla replied, literally waving off Elle's concern with a dismissive flick of her head. "We'll be totally fine, ok?" she repeated, promisingly, squeezing Elle's hands just a bit harder to reassure her. "No one will even notice. It's not like we're taking that much! Just two little cups of hot chocolate, and that'll be all. And I promise I'll be so quiet that even _you_ won't be able to hear me!"

Carmilla continued to whisper these promises to Elle as they carefully descended the stairs and moved throughout the schloss until they reached the master kitchen. Elle still looked reluctant, but as she was now closer to the kitchen than her own bedroom, which was the room they'd left from, she figured that she as might as well go through with Carmilla's little plan. It would be a shame to turn back now, wouldn't it? So on the duo went, Carmilla eagerly promising that she would pull this off without a hitch and Elle trailing obediently behind. This was standard behavior from the two of them, Carmilla always causing trouble and Elle being so helplessly in love that she followed Carmilla along despite this fact.

"Don't worry, we won't get caught!" Carmilla promised, still whispering, once she and Elle reached the kitchen. Then, she led Elle to a stool in the corner of the kitchen and sat her down on it, still grinning widely. It was such a big smile, in fact, that Elle thought for a second some of Carmilla's very teeth had grown, becoming longer and sharper... But the girl quickly dismissed this as an illusion from the way the moonlight slanted in through a nearby window because, the moment Carmilla's face moved slightly out of the light, her teeth had gone back to normal. Elle was just being silly. But she did have to admit that Carmilla was always such a wide smiler. She didn't spend all her days grinning away like an idiot, but she did smile quite frequently and the smiles were always so stunning and genuine. It was one of the first things Elle had come to know and love about the mysterious girl that had become such a wonderful companion to her in the past month.

While Elle sat on the stool, watching Carmilla in amusement, Carmilla herself darted around the kitchen. She scurried to and fro, fetching all the ingredients she would need to make some real, fresh hot chocolate. It was funny to watch her darting about so. It inexplicably reminded Elle of a cat after a mouse, and just like a cat, amazing as this was, Carmilla's footsteps were almost perfectly silent. It really was impressive how little noise Carmilla made despite how quickly she was moving. She hadn't been lying when she'd promised Elle that not even she would be able to hear Carmilla's footsteps as they executed this little operation of these. So back and forth Carmilla continued to flit, grinning widely all the while, feet barely touching the ground at times. Then at last, their hot chocolate had been finished, ready to come off the stove, steaming and sweet.

"Mmmm!" despite herself, Elle began to smack her lips as Carmilla handed her a large, warm mug.

"Shhhhh!" Carmilla chided playfully, laughing a little. Elle then clamped her hand over her own mouth, pretending to despair, which only enticed another laugh from Carmilla and Elle couldn't help it as her face switched over from mock despair to genuine happiness upon hearing Carmilla laugh. It was such a lovely sound and it was so infectious that Elle couldn't keep up the charade of being embarrassed while Carmilla laughed. It made her feel even better, though, to know that she had been the one to make Carmilla feel that way, to make her laugh so genuinely. Then, without further ado, the two girls began to drink, and it was Heaven! But the best part, in Elle's mind, came after the hot chocolate had been finished, after Carmilla had managed to clean and put everything away again in perfect and total silence, after the two had returned to their beds to sleep. They arrived at Elle's bedroom first and, with great reluctance, Elle released Carmilla's hand.

"I'll miss you," she pouted a little as Carmilla left her at her bedroom door. "The nights are always so long when you aren't with me!"

"Do not worry, Elle, my love, for you will see me in your dreams and it will be like we were never apart even for a single second!" the other girl replied, then before Elle could agree with that, she had leaned in to kiss Elle. For a moment, Elle went on total shutdown, but once her mind was able to grasp the fact that her lover was giving her a kiss goodnight before sending her off to bed, Elle returned the kiss passionately. It was only a gentle little kiss, but that didn't mean Elle couldn't pour her very heart and soul out into it, so she did, and she decided then that as tasty as the hot chocolate had been, Carmilla's lips were far sweeter.

Ooo

"Come on, Carm! It'll be fun!" Laura begged, giving Carmilla her best puppy eyes.

"Ummm, how about no, Creampuff?" Carmilla deadpanned, totally immune to those big eyes and that protruded lip.

"Pretty please?!" Laura begged, leaning out of her desk chair and closer to the girl still resting upon her bed, book in her lap.

"No, Laura. It's late and I'm tired. I want to go to bed, not on another crazy adventure with you!" Carmilla chastised sharply. Laura was not at all put off by the behavior, however, choosing instead only to up the ante a little.

"Fine then. I guess I'll just invite Lafontaine and/or Perry to go with me," she said, sitting back up and crossing her arms, but still pouting.

"Ha. Ok then. Have fun!" Carmilla taunted, an amused grin finally, slowly gracing her usually sallow and bitter face as she took in the sight of her adorkable little roommate, pouting like a five-year-old, complete with the arm cross of indignation.

Seeing that such that her ploy failed to get the envy from Carmilla that Laura had wanted, she tried something else.

"Or I might just go alone! All by myself! To face the dangers of Silas without any aid at all! And who knows? Maybe I'll take a detour at the library?" by subtly hinting at all the things that could go wrong with her plan, Laura hoped to entice some concern, or at least protectiveness, from Carmilla. Try as Carmilla may to deny that she had any feelings, especially good ones, towards Laura, Laura knew plain as day that Carmilla cared for her. Why else would the vampire go to such extreme lengths to keep her safe? After all, there had been that mushroom incident, the Kirch-attempted-Dudescort incident, the Danny trying to threaten Carmilla in order to protect Laura inci- Wait a sec! That was it!

When even Laura's subtle threats about stumbling into trouble over the course of a night alone out in Silas failed to evoke anything more than amusement from Carmilla, Laura decided to return to the envy thing once again, only this time, with a new ginger in mind...

"Of course, I suppose the danger couldn't be all that bad if I decided to ask Danny along with me, to protect me," Laura pretended to consider the option, innocently tilting her head away from Carmilla and rubbing her chin thoughtfully. She heard Carmilla's book slam shut barely a second later and she fought hard not to bust out celebrating.

20 minutes later, the duo had fled across campus under the moonlight, reaching the master kitchen in record time thanks to Carmilla carrying Laura and using her vampiric speed to get them there as fast as she could. Laura had, literally and metaphorically, been swept off her feet when Carmilla had suddenly scooped her up in her arms and begun to carry her bridal style, but Laura certainly wasn't going to complain about such a nice change of pace. She liked being in Carmilla's arms very much. She did try to ask about it when they reached the kitchen and Carmilla had been forced to set Laura down again, something Laura had taken great displeasure in, but Carmilla replied only with:

"If you want to do this right, you have to be fast, and you, Laura, are not even remotely close to being fast," spoken all in perfect deadpanning tone.

"Well, excuse me if we aren't all superhuman vampires with superhuman speed," Laura replied, rolling her eyes as Carmilla set her down.

"Even for a mortal, you're still slow," Carmilla snickered.

"Well excuse me if my nerd self prefers to spend time chilling in the dorm on her laptop, surfing Tumblr and Pottermore, instead of heading outside to pull of dangerous stunts and play dangerous sports like the Zetas or Summers!" Laura continued to argue playfully.

"Ok, first off, I can't believe you have Tumblr," Carmilla began, but then after a moment's consideration, she retconned that statement. "Actually, never mind, I can totally see you having a Tumblr. But second off, you can't really accuse the Zetas or Summers for being daring, reckless and overly-physically when you just convinced me to help you steal some hot chocolate from the Silas kitchens instead of just using one of the many boxes of the stuff that we have back in our own dorm room!" she finished almost accusingly, but then, as she spoke the last six words of that remark, her speech slowed down and she gave Laura a rather smug and sexy little smile. Wait. What?

"Oh, come on! The Silas stuff is better than the ordinary powder you find at the grocery store!" Laura argued, suddenly unable to meet Carmilla's eyes after that gentle nudge and almost seductive smirk. Why did Laura get the feeling that Carmilla's "back in our own dorm room" insinuation had referred to more than just the hot chocolate?

"Well, I suppose you are right about that," Carmilla admitted, suddenly wistful. That sharp change in tone from seductive to almost sad made Laura's ears prick up at once. Why did Laura get the feeling that Carmilla's agreement about "Silas' hot chocolate vs store-brand hot chocolate" insinuation had referred to more than just the hot chocolate? Or to something beyond brand preferences?

But once again, Laura found herself unable to ask and could only stare in genuine surprise as Carmilla began to take the lead in their secret operation of stealing hot chocolate. Even though Laura had been the one who had to drag Carmilla here, metaphorically of course since Carmilla had literally carried Laura over, Carmilla had suddenly taken the initiative and, almost like one in a trance or one lost to another world entirely, the vampire began to scout around the kitchen for all the ingredients to make real and really good hot chocolate. She did everything all by herself, the gathering, the cooking, the serving, and Laura could only watch, intrigued by this sudden change of opinion about their Hot Coca Heist from Carmilla. She'd gone from saying no to being the one to make the coca in like only about 27 minutes.

"Here," Carmilla said at last, handing a big steaming mug filled to the brim with warm coca to Laura.

"Thanks," Laura took the mug warily, not due to any shyness or distrust for what Carmilla might've done to the hot chocolate, but due to another astute observation of hers. Carmilla had spoken that one word with something akin to shyness, insecurity and fear, even. What? From Carmilla? From the broody, gay, IDGAF Carmilla? But no, Laura was certain that when Carmilla handed her that mug, something other than amusement, annoyance, apathy, light friendship, or even romantic or sexual intention, had hidden within that one word. Instead, it sounded almost like she'd been worried by how Laura might react. What? Why? But Laura knew now was not the time to ask, so instead she took a deep drink from her mug.

"Mmmmm!" despite herself, Laura began to smack her lips as she took that first big swig of the warm, chocolatey drink, all of her musings about the double meanings in Carmilla's sentence being forgotten in favor of the warm flavor running down her throat.

"Shhh!" Carmilla commanded, raising a finger to her lips, but when Laura met her eyes, she thought she saw amusement flickering within them. It didn't matter that they were forced to drink in almost complete darkness, one flashlight being their only source of light within that kitchen, Laura was sure that Carmilla had almost begun to laugh. Intrigued, and maybe even a bit hopeful, Laura then pretended to cover her own mouth with a look of horror and guilt. Just as she'd hoped, though totally against what she'd expected, Carmilla did finally begin to laugh. For the first time since they'd met, Laura got to hear that sweet sound of Carmilla's laugh. And it was a real one, too, not just an amused or disdainful snicker or snort. This had been a real, honest-to-goodness laugh of happiness and humor. Laura's face was suddenly hotter than her coca as she realized that she was the one to make Carmilla do this, but it was a good warmth, not one of mortification, but rather, one of pleasure and pride. She hid a grin into her mug as Carmilla continued to laugh. It wasn't very long or loud, but it was still clearly a laugh, and to Laura, that was a triumph.

But the best part, in Laura's mind, came after the hot chocolate had been finished, after Carmilla had managed to clean and put everything away again in perfect and total silence, after the two had returned to their beds to sleep. They had just entered to Room 307 when Carmilla suddenly took Laura's hand in her own. Surprised by the sudden reaction, Laura met Carmilla's eyes through the dark, questioning.

"I just wanted to say that if you ever ask me to do anything like that again, you're doing my homework for the next week!" Carmilla explained quickly, so fast that the whole sentence was almost just one really long word, but Laura still understood it and smiled. But then, before she could jokingly agree to that demand, Carmilla had leaned in to kiss her. Their hands were still linked. For a moment, Laura went on total shutdown, but once her mind was able to grasp the fact that her crush (but was it really just a mere crush anymore?) was giving her a kiss goodnight before sending her off to bed, Laura returned the kiss passionately. It was only a gentle little kiss, but that didn't mean Laura couldn't pour her very heart and soul out into it, so she did, and she decided then that as tasty as the hot chocolate had been, Carmilla's lips were far sweeter.

Carmilla's mind was running a very similar track. This kiss was sweeter than hot chocolate and sweeter even than the girl from a century and a half whose lips had tasted almost exactly the same. The only difference here was that hers had been shy and uncertain. Not insincere or false, just not as steadfast as Laura's. The other girl's lips, in hindsight, tasted like watered down coca, still hot chocolate, but not quite as strong as it should've been. But Laura's kiss was strong and full, just like Silas coca, just like handmade, homemade coca, and Carmilla could taste so much in that one little "sip" and all of it was very warm and very good.

 **AN: Just wanted to write some Elle/Laura parallels because the two are supposed to be at least a little similar. I like to think Laura sometimes does things that Elle would do and Carmilla picks up on it when Laura unintentionally acts like Elle. Additionally, I wanted to write some good, happy, healthy Carmilla/Elle because even though their relationship ended horribly, I still do believe there was a time when it was genuine. So yeah, just some Sheristein and Hollistein fluff because why not?**


End file.
